Go to Edit Profile and click on Browse to open the browse window.
Find the folder where you have filed your graphic (in .gif format (.gif), 8kb max, and 70x70 pixels) and open it. The path to the .gif should now appear in the box on the page. Note: Make sure the .gif is in lower case letters.
Click Upload.

After initially uploading it you should log out, in fact I'd suggest completely leaving the website. Then come back, log in, and open edit profile. Your new avatar should be pictured to the right of the upload avatar box. If it is there it should now show up in all your previous posts and in your future messages.

3. New Account
If you are not a member, but you wish to join our site so that you can post your own comments etc, click on this link.

You will be requested to choose a location, enter a name that you wish to be known by and your email address and to accept the terms and conditions of this site.

Shortly after registering, a password will be sent to the address you provided us with allowing you full access to Planet Tolkien’s many features.

Further information on becoming a member can be found in the FAQ. Here: Website help - FAQ

4. Biography
This link takes you to a JRR Tolkien biography that was researched and composed by five of our members.

5. Buddy List
The Buddy List allows you to store up to ten of your friends in an address book fashion; from here you can see when they are online, when they last logged in and send them a message directly whilst missing out that huge drop down box we all hate.

6. Chronolgy
This link takes you to a short chronology of the events in JRR Tolkien’s life.

8. Contact
This section allows you to contact the Council via email with your comments and suggestions for the site.

9. The Council
In Taz’s own words, “here are the guilty parties who try to bring you the best in Tolkien related entertainment.”

10. Community Supporters
For a small charge of £1.00 per month you can become a Community Supporter. This small charge helps offset some of the running costs for the site which Taz pays for out of his own pocket. In order to keep the site user friendly he has decided against the use of advertising banners and pop-ups so Community Supporters are helping to keep Planet-Tolkien free of these for the enjoyment of all. .

If you wish to become a Community Support please contact Taz.

11. How do I write my name or this text in Elvish/Elven letters?I want my name or this text written in Elvish/ Elven letters.

Of course you do. Unfortunately it can be a bit complicated. We here in the Planet Tolkien Council are not Tolkien linguists, but we can try to guide you on your way. But do not blame us for misspelled tattoos or inscriptions!.

(As most probably know, the appendixes in Return of the King and the SiImarillion have a lot of info about language and text. )

1. Speak like Arwen?
Tolkien did not create a complete Elven language. He created fractions of them to show us how he imagined them to be, but that is all. But fans have tried hard to develop them further, so be aware that words you find may not truly come from Tolkien.

The FAQ on www.elvish.org explains this far better than we can. http://www.elvish.org/FAQ.html

Elvish.org is the home of E.L.F., the The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship. It is well worth a visit!

2. Writing with Tengwar (Elven letters, Elven script).
There are many modes and ways of using them, depending on if you want to write the words in English, Sindarin, Quenya, etc etc.
Try to search the web for “how to write with tengwar” “tengwar” “How to write Elvish” or something like that. There are many guides out there; we hope you find one that suits you.

3. Elven fonts for your computer
There are many fonts out there which you can download and use on your computer. But most of them do require a bit of Tengwar knowledge to use correctly. Typing in “Bobby” does not necessarily mean that the text you get spells out b-o-b-b-y.

4. I want an Elven name!
If you want the meaning of your name translated (and get a real Elven name, not some random name from a generator on some website), then you might find your name here:
http://www.elvish.org/elm/names.html

If your name is not listed there, www.behindthename.com will help you find the meaning of your name. This you can use to translate your name on your own.

12. Does Planet-Tolkien have a Forum?The terms "Message Board" and "Forum" currently used on Planet-Tolkien.com are interchangeable until we have decided which term best defines those areas of the site.

13. Fan Writings
Here you find stories based on Tolkiens universe written by members. To get your story posted there, you need to send it to Valedhelgwath (e-mail: ron.jessop@btopenworld.com ). He will pass it on to a panel of judges who will decide if the story is appropriate to be posted here.

Also, winners of writing competitions will have their entries posted in the Fan Writing section.

1) There must be a link to Tolkien's works
2) Submissions must conform to our Family Friendly rules (ie. no swearing, sexual content etc)
3) Must be written in English
4) Must be of a good grammatical standard
5) The stories content should be of a high standard too.
6) As of yet we have not placed an upper limit on the length of stories, but as a rule of thumb, I'd suggest no more than 15,000 words. Longer submissions should perhaps be broken down into shorter chapters.

If you have a story you would like others to read and comment on, but do not want including in the Fan Writing section, feel free to start a thread within the Writers Guild or see the Help File under Reading Group.

14. Frequently Asked Questions
A FAQ is available in the Message Boards under 'Website Help'. Click here to go there.

15. The PT Weather Forecast
Gives you a more detailed information about the weather at planet Tolkien.
See "How do I find out what the weather is like in Planet-Tolkien?"Click here

16. Guilds
Located in the message Boards, this section contains three Guilds. The Writers' Guild is the largest and is where members can post poems, stories and other writings, and join ongoing stories such as 'Another Story - The Quest for the Straight Road'. The Role Playing Guild is for role playing stories and games and the Miscellaneous Guild is for anything which doesn't fit into the other two categories.

17. Icon by Username
The picture or icon that you see by a username is called an Avatar. For information on how to get one go to "A" in Help or see the FAQ.

18. How to view other members’ journal entries
Click on "Journal Entries" under "your account" in the left hand menu. Select a members name from the pull-down menu where it says "View Journal Entires". You will now get a full list of all the journals posted by this person, the dates they were posted and how many times they have been opened and read. Click on the name of the entry to read it.

19. What are Journal Entries
This section allows you to keep your own journal, in which you can enter your own thoughts that you would like to share with other members. If you are quoting song lyrics, poetry or any portion of a work written by someone other then yourself, you must give accreditation to the true author.
This section also allows you to read other people’s journals too. You can do this by either by typing in the nickname of the member whose journal you would like to read or by viewing the 10 most recently submitted entries from the menu to the right.

Please note, however, that Planet-Tolkien is a family site so journal entries should be PG rated to the same standards as our Message Board and the Council may edit or delete flagrant violations.

20. How to write a journal entry
Click on "Journal Entries" under "Your Account" in the left hand menu.
Select "Write a Journal Entry". Add your subject title and your text. Be
sure your entry conforms with our Website's Family Friendly Rules, which can
be found under r for rules or by clickingThis Link

22. Account Login
This is where you login to Planet-Tolkien with your nickname and secret password.

23. How do I earn Mithril
Each member of Planet-Tolkien receives twenty mithril for their first unique login of each day. And it is hoped in the near future from successfully completed quizzes, awards from your Race's council, donations (as mathoms) from other members as well as random events generated by our environment system (However you can also lose Mithril due to this).

The daily Mithril messages are sent out at 12 midnight GMT.

24. Why do I have to pay to send a message?
The postal services in middle-earth times were not what they are today you know! If you wanted to have a message delivered then someone had to be paid to go and deliver it for you, that is if you don't go deliver it yourself obviously. However, lets not forget that travelling in quite often dark and unprotected areas is an undesirable business and generally requires some kind of incentive.

In Planet-Tolkien messangers are paid using Mithril which you receive on your first unqiue visit of each day to Planet-Tolkien as well as other methods found in our help files.

25. How come the amount to send a message changes?
In Planet-Tolkien the weather plays a big part in many of the features you use and experience. This is also the case when sending Messages. In middle-earth there weren't really any weather hardy methods of transport that could offer the messengers protection, also messengers just like you and me are human (well not all but most are) and sometimes just don't want to go and deliver messages in the rain, hurricanes, hail storms or whatever else happens to be the weather for your home location on that day. Not unless they are being paid a little extra that is! It's just the way things work in Planet-Tolkien, sorry =)

26. What is the Message Board Home?
On the opening page of the forum, the Message Board Home, you will see there are several blocks (Website Talk, JRR Tolkien, Middle Earth, Books, Lord of the Rings Movies, Guilds, Taverns, and Misc).

These are then broken down further into relevant sections. By clicking on any of the sections, you will then open another page containing Threads, or topics, that have been posted there. Some of the more popular sections (eg. Website Talk>General Discussion, might itself contain several pages of Threads. By clicking on one of these Threads, you will open up that Thread, and will be able to read the posts that are contained within.

To keep navigation as easy as possible for all our members, we try to encourage members to post their topics in the relevant sections, and to keep their posts on topic. For newcomers to the forum, we accept it is not always easy deciding where it is best to post your thread, and in some cases these may be moved elsewhere by one of the Council Members. If your post is not actually Tolkien related, we ask that it is placed in one of the Taverns. In our five taverns we have a multitude of non-Tolkien related discussions, as we accept members have other interests they might wish to share beyond Tolkien.

In order to learn how to open threads, and to learn what is contained within them, we advise you to open a few up and have a look. We hope what you find within will be of interest to you.

27. What are Message Board Posts?
Once you have opened up a Thread you will find yourself looking at a page of posts (there may be several pages of posts in the more popular threads, and this fact will be advertised next to the name of the thread).

On the top of each post you will see the Nickname of the person who submitted that post. Also you can see a lot more information. You can see the Date and Time at which the message was posted. You will find the race and location the member has chosen, whether they are currently On or Off-line and the number of messages that member has posted somewhere within the forum.

On the right of each post you see a picture or Avatar(see section Avatars for more details)

And on the bottem of each post you will find four icons. Edit: Allows the member who submitted the post, or a Council member, to enter the post and edit it. Delete: Deletes your post and removes it completly. And the Top of Page and the Bottom of Page icons.

28. How do I make a Message Board Post or Reply
If you wish to add to a topic of discussion you will see beneath the very last post on the right hand side one choice which is underlined: Post Reply. Click on this option to add a post to the current discussion. A box will open containing a row of seven icons, a big box and two buttons.

Beneath the row of icons is the main message box. Simply type your message into this box, or if you have prepared a message earlier on a Word document, you may paste it here-although please note some messages created this way cause what we term number junk (errant ASCII numbers) because our program sometimes does not recognise certain fonts that your PC may be using. This often occurs when using punctuation marks. If you are going to copy and paste your message, this number junk can be avoided by preparing your message on Notepad.

To emphasise aspects of your post there are seven icons just above the message box. There are two main methods depending on which browser you are using:

If you wish to use bold, italics, or underlined text, simply click and drag the cursor over the line of text or double click on a single word (much the same as you would if editing a Word document) then click on the relevant icon and you will see the selected text is now surrounded by codes like this - [u ]Your Underlined Text [ /u].

Some browsers will send all the codes to the end of the message no matter where you place the cursor. You will then need to cut and paste them at the begiining and end of the relevant text making sure the code with the / is at the end . The text should now be sandwiched between codes as shown above.

The fourth icon is to highlight quotations you may wish to use from books, another post or from other sources. Again, simply select your text and click on the Quote icon or position the cursor and click the icon at the beginning and end of the text.

The fifth icon is for making a URL into a link and is slightly more complicated.

Click on the URL icon and a a url link code appears at the end of your text. Somtimes a double click is needed. Move the link by copying and pasting (remember to delete any superfluous link left at the end of the text) or click and drag the link to where you want it to appear and then type the URL address between the link brackets after http:// (making sure you place it before the [ and it will become an active link when posted. Replace the words 'Link title' with what you want the link to be called. [link']URL[/link'][title']what you want to call it [/title'] Be sure to remove any leading or trailing spaces from the URL address.

The sixth icon is for checking the spelling of a word. At present this is a rudimentary spellchecker and after clicking the spellchecker icon copy the queried word into the box and click the check icon, repeating for each queried word. Future expansions may include a Tolkien Lexicon and ultimately a full text spellchecker.

The seventh icon allows you to place smilies in your message. These allow other readers to see your mood, whether you are joking, sad, happy etc. and can be important to avoid misunderstandings. When you click the icon a small window will appear with the smileys and the codes. Clicking one of the smilies will automatically place the code for the relevant smiley to appear at the bottom of your message. You can also copy the code and place it directly into the message. Please be aware that excessive use of smilies can be annoying to other readers.

Again remember that some browsers will send all the codes to the end of the message no matter where you place the cursor. You will then need to cut and paste them where you want.

Once you are happy with your post, click the Post Reply button under the box and your post will appear as the latest post in the thread. It will now be visible for all to view and only editable by yourself or a Council Member. If you decide not to post the message click the cancel button.

29. How do I create a new Message Board Topic (Thread)?
Should you wish to make a comment on a subject that you cannot find in any of the other Topics, it is possible for you to create a new Thread. Doing this is very similar to posting a message, but instead of your post becoming the bottom message on a string of posts, your message will be the first post in a new Thread. By clicking Create New Topic at the bottom of a page of threads, you will access a message box similar to the one you use for sending normal posts. The only difference is, at the top there is a section asking for the name you wish your thread to be called. This name will appear as the title (subject) of your thread on the Thread Index.

If you use this function can you please take care to post your topic in the most relevant section, and try to ensure your topic theme does not already exist. This often happens in the Characters section where two topics occasionally run side by side concerning the same character. It can cause quite a lot of confusion for other members, and a lot of work for the Council Member who has to move the posts from one thread to the other. Also please try to make the subject of your thread meaningful; a single word title seldom carries enough information unless it is a name in the Characters section.

Please do not use smilies in the thread title as it causes wobbles in the Forum Menu on the right.

30. What is the Menu Bar
Down the right hand side of each page is a column containing several headings. This is a menu bar comtains the Site. Whichever part of this site you visit, this bar will be present down this edge allowing you to quickly navigate from one area to another without having to return to the Homepage each time. You can obtain information about each of these headings by checking their key words in the Help section.

31. How do I use My Account Messages?
These are private messages delivered via the Middle-earth postal service which allows you to send and receive private messages to and from other members.

It is worth checking this section regularly in case you have unread messages in your postbox. You will also be notified (near the top of each page) if you have unread messages.

To open a message: From Your Inbox, click on the subject of the message you wish to open.

To write a new mesage: Click on the Write New Message link at the bottom of Your Inbox, pulldown the recipiant's name, add a subject, write your message, and click on the Send Message link.

NOTE: If you receive a message with a missing subject and thus no link to open it, click here.

To reply to the message, click on the Reply button at the bottom of the message, add your message above the original message, and click on the Send Message button.

You can also reply to or delete messages from Your In-Box.

If the name of the person you want to send a message to isn’t in the pulldown list of members you need to add that person to yourBuddy List. After you added that person, go to your Buddy List and click on the message icon behind the username. After you sent the message you can always delete that person from your Buddy List again.

32. How can I tell which members are currently online?
In the future we hope to add a page that will list the current online (logged-in) members. However until then, if the member is added to your Buddy List, you can see there if he/she is logged in. Another way is to browse the Message Board for any post made by a specific member, at the top of each post the current logged status of that member is shown.

33. What happened to the Message Board threads’ first posts?
When the forum data was brought over from old P-T, the first post from each thread was lost. You should be able to obtain the general idea about the thread's subject by reading the subsequent responses.

34. What is the use of these ‘’Mithril Pieces’’
Only the future knows the real answer to the question, but for now we have a monetary system whose main use is for message postage. You can also move from one location to another for a fee of 400 pieces of Mithril. In the future there will be other things to spend mithril on and other methods of gaining it, such as on birthdays, for writing articles, winning contests, etc.

The membership will be asked to participate in generating ideas for this as we build up our communities. We may need (were we to be a true simulated world) to buy seed for planting crops to be sold to pay for a plow, and for the miller to grind the grain for the baker to bake the bread to sell to the dairyman who needs to pay the haymaker and the cobbler, etc, etc, etc. We may even, heaven forbid, need taxation to support some necessary evil, like the bounders or an army to keep the outlanders at bay.

35. What happened to the old Message Board dates
When the Old Forum was brought over to New Planet-Tolkien, the dates were lost due to the old forum structure. All new posts will have dates.

36. Can we change the Number of Topics/Posts on a page?
Not at the moment but this feature may be added at a later date.

37. Can we search for thread topics on the board?
Not at the moment but this feature may be added at a later date.

38. Today’s messages
This feature shows all the new messages posted that day (from midnight GMT)

39. How do I open a Message that has no subject?
When you receive a message under Your Account that has no subject and thus no link with which to open it, click on reply which will enable you to read it and then you can decide whether to reply, or cancel the reply.

40. How can I change my password
You can change your password in Your Account : Edit Profile and then click on change password. Then enter both your old and new passwords and click on update your password. A copy of your updated password will also be sent to you via e-mail.

When you get your password, you should write it down on paper—a memo/steno pad of online passwords is highly recommended.

41. How do I Edit my Profile?
This page contains your personal info such as your name, age and country etc. The boxes are optional and do not need to be filled in unless you wish to. From this page you may also change your password, move to another location, upload an Avatar. (for more information see Avatars )

42. Lost Your Password?
On the Account Login page, use the "Lost Login Details?" option. If this doesn't work contact the Council Members at council@planet-tolkien.com

When you do get your password you should write it down on paper—a memo/steno pad of online passwords is highly recommended.

43. Pictures beside Username
The pictures you see by the username is called an Avatar. For information on how to get one go to "A" in Help and FAQ's.

45. Rules
Believe it or not about 50% of our active community members are under the age of eighteen, this is a statistic we do not take very lightly. In fact, we are quite proud of the family environment and the lean and friendly karma one can experience whilst being a member of our website.

To keep it this way sometimes the Council has to set down rules and policies which might seem hard or unfair or just plain censorship. However ,quite simply it is our job to look ahead and judge as best as we can what is and is not acceptable to keep this place running smoothly.

1. We will not tolerate any form of rude language, racism or unsocial behavior in ANY kind of medium and posts will be edited as we see fit and offenders notified with a warning.

2. Political / Religious Topics, Posts, Threads or Comments inside or outside of Tolkien related topics are not permitted. As moderators we have seen that such discussions always end up with people being hurt or insulted. If this happens your thread(s)/post(s) will be deleted and you will be notified. If it continues with membership will be terminated.

3. No using another member's custom avatar. If you need help finding an avatar Council Members will be happy to assist you. Check the Help Menu under avatar.

4. No single line posts, or single smiley posts. We have noted that posts in the forums are frequently just "one-liners" and far off topic. Seventeen posts in a row with just "ha-ha, that's fun" or just a smiley in them get really boring to read after a little while. We have a chat room and private messaging is also available so please do not use the forum to “chat”.

5. Please be careful of copy right infringements. We have noticed that members are posting the lyrics of songs in journals and in the forum. Unfortunately, this does violate copyright laws and Planet-Tolkien can be held liable. Parts of songs, poetry, etc can be used for discussion purposes provided the author is given due credit.

6. No posting just to boost your number of posts. Try to make your posts as meaningful as possible

7. No abbreviations like "som1, or How r u"?" Please write full sentences. Not everyone is familiar with sms and chatroom language.

8. Posting etiquette Don't post meter-long row of repeated text, such as hahahahahahahahahaha. It messes up the page and is also annoying as are rows and rows of animated smilies. Please don't post in upper case or capital letters as this is deemed shouting and is rude and annoying.

9. Don’t post links to other websites In keeping with the terms of agreement with The Family Friendly Site these sites must conform to the following regulation set down by the organization who have designated Planet-Tolkien as family friendly :

Quote:
Posts and enforces rules in its chat rooms and forums to prohibit
1. Sexually explicit language
2. Profanity
3. Remarks that disparage or ridicule other people

10. All posts must be in English.

Thank you for your understanding. I know that we all want Planet-Tolkien to be a comfortable home for Tolkienists with a good quality forum in which we can share our thoughts and learn from each other.

If you have any questions, our e-mail address is: Council@planet-tolkien.com or you can use the Contact information next to ‘’forum’’ to contact us.

-The Council-

46. Reading Group
The idea of this group is to share any form of writing that any of us write. It can be short stories, poetry, biographical essays, dialogue... anything you think the others might be interested in reading. Although we are all gathered here because this is a Tolkien site, there is no reason why this group should be limited to just Tolkien either.

As a writer it is a way of sharing compositions with like minded people and getting a bit of feedback. For others who just like reading, it is the opportunity to read new material, and to talk with the author if they so wish about those stories. If by being part of such a group someone is tempted to begin writing themselves, so much the better.

This group comprises people who enjoy reading the stories others in the group have written, perhaps commenting briefly on them and to give budding writers within Planet-Tolkien the opportunity to air their stories and poems to a group of like minded readers.

If you wish to join this group please post your details in the thread below, or PM them to Valedhelgwath.

48. Why won’t Smilies appear when I click their button.
This sometimes happens when multiple windows are open to P-T and the window to which you are trying to add the smiley isn't the one used to open the smiley list. Close the non-functioning smilie list and open a new one and you should be able to use it.

49. Sending in stories
There are many ways of doing this. For more information, see under

r for the Reading Groupe,w for the Writers Guild orf for Fan Writings

50. Taverns
Located in the Message Boards, this section contains a number of Taverns where members can post non-Tolkien related posts, chat and discussions.

Still we have tried to assigned two guilds to a purpose, the others are free. But remember the website rules (look under the letter r).

51. Tolkien Trivia?
Our Message Board has Daily Trivia Questions that can be found under J.R.R. Tolkien > General Discussion > Trivia: Barad-dûr, as well as a few longer take-home quizzes under Middle-Earth > The History of > History of Middle Earth Brainteaser. (You will have to scroll through the latter thread to find the various quizzes and their answers.)

52. How to change your Username.
Go to ‘’Account’’ → ‘’Edit Profile’’ And type your new username in the first box. After you typed your new username click ‘’Update Profile’’. And done!

54. Works List
This link takes you to a page containing a complete list of Tolkien’s books.

55. What is this weather thing about?
What kind of planet would we be if we didn't have weather? So far the weather only effects the amount of mithril you have to spend to send private messages, but later on it might effect other parts of this site as well.

Look under M to learn more about:
Why do I have to pay to send a message?
How come the amount to send a message changes?
How do I earn Mithril?

56. Website Talk
If you have suggestions for the website or queries about the website and its functions, this is the place to post. There are also sections here for Website News and Website General Discussion. Please choose the most appropriate one for your post. Announcements about Post of the Week and other awards are also posted here.

57. Writers Guild
Here you can post a story or poem you would like others to read and comment on. The story/poem must be in English and follow the website rules (ie. no swearing, sexual content etc).

Luthien.T. has made 5 posts and is an Elf from Lothlorien and is not online.
Posted Friday 3rd January 2014 (10:56am)

I have no idea.. i could see all topics but when i wanted to open them it just went black..or back to 2010 if there were any posts..except of couple of threads like help thread and Legolas's eye color... XD but as faar as I can tell it all works perfectly now...so,thank you..

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